As I've been telling you for months, the Kleptocrats (Democrat & Republican) in Springfield are doing the bidding of their Sith Masters in the Education Establishment (BIG ED).

After playing games with the bill numbers in an attempt to throw off letter writers & callers, the sneaks have settled on an amendment to HB755.

This bill was originally set to be about parental notification of police line ups on school grounds. If you click the link, it still looks that way. They do this to throw you off the track. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you can see all the amendments that will flood the teachers unions with cash while bankrupting Illinois taxpayers.

If you want to save yourselves hundreds (maybe thousands) in taxes next year, YOU SIMPLY MUST CALL YOUR STATE SENATOR and REPRESENTATIVE and tell them to VOTE NO!

Here are some highlights...

HB 755:

increases the State income tax rates for individuals from 3% to 5% and for corporations from 4.8% to 8% (this is estimated to generate $5.8 billion)

This will DECIMATE the Illinois Economy! Illinois is already REELING from the fee increases and enforcement actions that have passed in the last few years.

raises the foundation level in the school funding formula to $6,100 per pupil (currently the foundation level is $4,964). This amount would grow annually by the lesser of CPI or 3.5%.

The Foundation Level for funding will do NOTHING to help Illinois students because the FUNDING DOESN'T GO TO STUDENTS - it goes to districts - which are overloaded with bureaucrats, social workers, and other forms of payroll bloat.

If the legislature were serious about helping students - they would fund students - not districts!

increases funding for special education and other mandated categorical grants by $120 million

"Mandated Categoricals" is code for "Payroll Expansion." Special Education is a cesspool of featherbedding and bad policy. They won't stop until every student is Illinois is "special needs."

establishes a property tax abatement equal to 30% of the dollar amount for K-12 school property taxes from 2001 (paid in 2002) (estimated to be $3 billion)

Your income taxes skyrocket in 2006, and your so-called "property tax relief" kicks in 2007 - if you ever see it. The relief goes to the district - not the taxpayer. The first thing your district will do is run a referendum demanding that they keep the money.

provides $370 million to higher education (75% to universities; 25% for community colleges)

Higher Education provides the model for fixing K-12. We fund the students - not the institutions - more so than the corrupt K-12 system, anyway.

provides $190 million to counties and municipalities through the Local Government Distributive Fund (this is, generally, the same formula ? 10% of income tax receipts ? that is in current law)

This was done to buy off stupid Republicans. I can't believe Watson (Republican Senate Leader) is dumb enough to allow anyone to vote for this. It guarrantees Democrat control of Illinois.

increases the Earned Income Tax Credit fourfold (from 4% to 20%) ? estimated at $200 million

They should do this without any Tax Increase.

creates a new renter's tax credit ? estimated at $150 million

Why subsidize renting when Home Ownership is a better avenue to wealth?

doubles the eligible amounts of the income tax credit for payment of tuition to a private or parochial school from a $500 maximum to a $1,000 maximum ? estimated at $65 million.

This is a Sop to conservatives that is never intended to see the light of day. Look for them to strip this out before final passage. This is how they operate.

If it isn't stripped out, look for so-called Republican Squishs to hide behind this fig leaf as they do the bidding of their corrupt masters in the Education Lobby.

This is one of the tertiary goals of the Education Establishment - an ever increasing ratchet of spending increases for them to continue to impose their intentionally substandard education system while sucking down ever increasing amounts of money.

This link outlines the impending demise of Colorado's TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights). At this time, many TABOR like laws are being introduced. Should they (more TABORs) pass in other states, the ATM (automatic taxpayer milking) machine nature of State Government will be forced to end.

This is why the "Vast Left Wing Conspiracy" has done all it can to destroy TABOR in CO. (as usual, BIG ED was in the vanguard)

If you have friends or business contacts in CO, please do all you can to activate them on this issue.

The experience is part omen, part case study for Illinois as proponents of a tax swap — albeit a milder one — push their case here.

“The problem with this method of funding is it’s dependent on sales tax and sin taxes and income tax, all of which become very unstable when the economy is down, and that’s what’s happened in Michigan,” said Shirley Bryant, spokeswoman for Birmingham Public Schools, a suburban Detroit district annually ranked among the state’s best. As state funds have come up short, the district closed buildings and is considering cutting the programs it offers students.

“All the districts in Michigan are drowning,” Bryant said.

Still, political pressure mounts in Springfield to raise state taxes and use the money to replace local property taxes for funding schools, something suburban lawmakers blocked in 1997.

Many Illinois residents are unaware that there is a quiet but powerful push for a massive tax increase in Illinois.

This bill, called SB1484 (but also known as HB750 or the Education Funding Reform Act) will increase your income taxes by 67 percent (from 3 percent to 5 percent) and the corporate income tax rate 67 percent (from 4.8 percent to 10 percent). There is also talk of expanding the sales tax to cover things like auto repair and health club memberships.

This job-killing tax increase has a “sugar coating” in the form of false “property tax relief.” DON’T FALL FOR IT! Your property taxes won’t come down because this isn’t a permanent reduction.

This so-called “property tax relief” DOES NOT cut your property taxes. It takes the form of an “abatement” sent to your school district, not to you! Your district will probably put a referendum on the ballot allowing them to keep the “abatement,” so you may never see a dime of this “relief”.

Furthermore, any “property tax relief” you do see will soon disappear because this tax increase does nothing to reform the rampaging increases in Medicaid and Pension Fund short falls.

Do the math and you’ll see how badly this tax increase hurts Illinois taxpayers. A young couple earning $50,000 per year of adjusted gross income will see $1,000 less of disposable income. That translates into a huge percentage of their discretionary spending.

When you add it all up, this bill takes over $2.4 Billion of private discretionary income and gives it to the same people that have spent Illinois into looming bankruptcy. This bill may come up for a vote as early as this week or the next. They will try to sneak it though quickly. Don’t let them get away with it!

When I testify at Speaker Madigan's dog & pony shows on his plan to build support for a job killing tax increase, I point out that one place to cut spending is to fix Medicaid here in IL.

One of the best places to go for plans to do this is the Illinois Policy Institute. They do great policy research on State Policy. I keep on pointing out to my friends on the left that I'll buy that we are wealthy enough to have a compassionate society if they'll buy that the bloated & collectivized methods they use (Social Security, Public Education, Medicare & Medicaid) are failing.

Regardless, here is a good article on the direction we can take to fix one aspect of IL spending.